After The Fall
by CassanderRoshack
Summary: Based on the Fem!Shepard and Garrus relationship. After Shepard makes the choice to destroy the Reapers, Garrus is left piecing his life back together. Finding it... too empty for anything good to come out of it. He goes into the wreckage to see if there is anything left of the woman he loved. Short story with a good ending.


Garrus Vakarian didn't stop to breathe for a long time after the battle was over. He was either giving orders or taking them. A lot of wounded, a lot of people who didn't have water or food and a lot of people were still in shock. London was in pieces- literally. When the reaper had crashed it had actually split the city apart and a lot of people were separated from their squads or buried, if they had survived. The fighting had ended, but the repairs were just beginning. He couldn't found a moment to go out into the rubble fields, that was all he needed. He needed to find something of hers… anything of hers. She couldn't have just been- he stopped mid-touch of a button on a holopad in his claws. The Turian shook his head, she hadn't been vaporized. Even then… he could find remains. James had made the comment that if they found her ashes- humans had a thing called cremation. He had nearly strangled him until Liara had explained it was a respectful way to honor the dead. James hadn't talked to him since- neither had the rest of the crew. They were all in their own places- mourning and finding where they belonged now. It was hard, with so many deaths of friends and family to think about- to even work around. The old wounds burnt with his movements, but they were ignored. Things needed to be done. Shepard had trusted him with getting those things done.

A hand came on his shoulder and he turned, a flutter of hope before seeing it was Tali. "Garrus, you should go look. Kaidan is taking a group to go look now, he wants you to come." Her bright eyes shown behind her reflective helmet. He paused before shifting, "I have work to do here." Tali shook her head, "I'm sure whatever it is, I can help for an hour while you check at least some places in this city…" Garrus didn't need to be told twice, showing her what to do on the holopad before leaving down the buildings crumbling stairs. He took a gun from a pile that had been discarded- the fighting wasn't over for a Turian- ever. He walked to the small group that Kaidan was standing next to. He nodded to him, Garrus nodded back. "We're going to check the East side of the river, that's all I've got time for until I've got to get back to my post with the others. Same for these guys. Soon as we get another break we're checking the West." Garrus almost argued that they would find the time to check both, but realized that there were a lot of people that needed any able bodied soldiers and their leaders as possible… He held his tongue- everyone was on edge at the moment.

Garrus ended up searching long after Kaidan and the others had to go back to their stations. Tali had told him it was fine- and she was actually enjoying bossing around Turian commandos. She tried to cheer him up by saying she might bring home a few though it didn't help his mood very much. He had only a flicker of a smile at the saying before he kept looking. Several hours later, Liara and Kaidan came back and bringing a few Krogan. Some other species though no one else had time to spare. He breathed out seeing them starting to search as well. Liara offered him a small smile, "There are strength in numbers." She said softly before going to help lift the rubble up with her kinetic skills to have others dig through it. Not surprisingly, the Krogan were amazing diggers.

When the dawn was breaking overhead the next day, an Asari called out that she found something. Garrus nearly pushed her out of the way but restrained himself, pulling up rocks that she couldn't lift and tossing them back. He saw the armor. He saw the coloration. He saw the thin tendrils of red hair and the bits of pale skin that shown up through the dirt. _"Shepard!"_ He gasped and pulled faster, the others getting out of the way but standing nearby as he pulled her up from the wreckage. "Oh- Oh-" He whispered pushing her hair out of her face, his own burns making him cringe from where he was over her. Laira came close, her omni-tool over Shepard. She stared at it for a moment. "Garrus, we have to get her to the medical tents. She's very-…" Her voice caught, "She's not going to make it if-" He was already up, running past her toward the medical tents he knew were closest with Shepard in his arms.

~~~

She slowly blinked her eyes open. The room was quiet. Very… quiet. She took in a slow breath, it hurt, so she breathed out again. Blue eyes looked around the room. She was on the citadel? It looked like the same room Kaidan had been in. Shepard looked out to see that, yes, it was exactly where she was. The citadel was in shambles, but transports were flying quickly by and she could see black dots on the walls that were people repairing and painting. She smiled a little, things had survived. Life had survived.

She turned her head to see she was hooked up to a fair few monitors, most of which she had no idea what meant. Outside was Garrus speaking to a doctor, his hands were moving and Liara stood beside him nodding in agreement about something. Watching their lips she could tell that they were talking about biotics and implants. She looked at herself, wiggled her toes, then her fingers. At least they weren't talking about her. Garrus looked tired to her, but who could really tell with Turians. She claimed it was all in the eyes and it seemed that Garrus was running on fumes. She laid her head back down. How long had it been since she'd destroyed the reapers? What happened to Anderson after the explosion? Did everyone make it out alright?

Garrus came in after a few minutes. His footsteps unmistakable. He had a slight limp from the vehicle crashing into him before Shepard had called the Normandy to pick him up with James. The voice was a tad bit funny and she assumed he still thought she was asleep as he spoke, "Good morning, Shepard. Another beautiful day on the Citadel. Life is returning to normal. Just spoke to the doctor about Jack. She's doing fine- had to replace one of her arms- but fine. Could have been worse. People are still repairing everything- the relays are not behaving. They want me up there to help calibrate them- but I told them I had more pressing matters. " He sighed taking a seat and leaning on the bed. "Everyone is waiting, sweetheart…" Shepard heard the pain in his voice and she took a breath opening her eyes to see him laying his head on the bed, hand reached out to hers. "Then why keep them waiting?"

It took a full forty-five seconds for him to slowly look up to see her. She was bruised, bandages everywhere and IVs and cords wrapped around her… but she was there. Garrus groaned and reached for her, "Shepard-" He nearly fell over himself, tears forming and she kissed him, "Why so much surprise?" She laughed, tearing up as well, "I had a special order from my boyfriend to return alive, right? I can't refuse an order like that." Garrus shook his head, talons running through her hair. His eyes shut in a soft prayer before resting his forehead against hers. His voice was soft, "I thought I lost you." Shepard stayed silent for a moment, running her hand over the scars. "Not yet." He nodded, resting there for a few minutes. Coming to terms with her being alive and _breathing_ instead of burred underneath a ton of rubble. She smiled, "How'd we do?"

Garrus was glad for the subject change and leaned back, "Everyone on the Normandy made it. Including EDI. Joker saved her AI in ship and just put her back in her body when all the chaos was over. I suppose you heard, Jack lost an arm. But everyone survived. Those who weren't… well." He sighed, "We lost a good people. The reconstruction of our home worlds will take a long time."

Shepard nodded, "I don't doubt it. Not with the war we just went through." She whispered, "But we've proven that if we can put aside our issues long enough, we can accomplish anything." Garrus nodded slightly, taking her hand, "Even with a recently regrown lung, five broken ribs and four brakes in your limbs- not to mention a skull fracture and two breaks in your spine- you can still sound like you're leading the entire group to battle. And I love that." He kissed her forehead. "They're talking about making you an Admiral once you've fully recovered." She laughed, lacing her fingers with his talons, "You know I won't take it." Garrus nodded, leaning back to look outside at the Citadel being repaired. "I know. You've got somewhere tropical to be." Shepard was still grinning, turning to look where he was, "And I wouldn't miss it for anything."


End file.
